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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29909877">Hotel California</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmazingGraceless/pseuds/AmazingGraceless'>AmazingGraceless</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>WandaVision (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Ending, Deal with a Devil, Gen, Horror, It was Agatha all along, Multiverse, Witch versus Witch</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 19:41:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,923</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29909877</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmazingGraceless/pseuds/AmazingGraceless</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It was Agatha all along.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Wanda Maximoff/Vision</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Mirrors on the Ceiling</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had been Agatha all along.</p><p>The truth left Wanda breathless, like she had been slammed flat into the center of the stone floor. The realization hammered at her head, breaking through a barrier, to a memory she had hidden from herself, deep in the recesses of her mind. The floodwaters of guilt and grief were leaking, quickly—and if she didn’t regain control of the narrative, it would all come crashing over her again, like in the beginning. . .</p><p>“You made it so easy, you know.”</p><p>Wanda could hear Agatha speak again after her little musical number finished— the room and her face seemed to be a blur, a million miles away. But her voice continued to cut through her brain and any of Wanda’s attempt to distance herself from the realization of exactly what was happening.</p><p>“You were curled up in the house your little robot boyfriend bought for you, just like you were today. Watching re-runs of <em>Bewitched</em>, that inaccurate, tacky trash, in the same holey blue bathrobe, same messy ponytail—“ Agatha stopped circling her and comically wrinkled her nose. “Same <em>stench</em>.”</p><p>She wafted the smell away from her rabbit’s nose.</p><p>“Not that even that stench could hide the scent of magic,” Agatha continued. “Dear, I could smell it all the way from Massachusetts. Not even that sadness and you pathetic hero act could hide what you truly are.”</p><p>“Is that what this is about?” Wanda demanded. “My magic? What do you need it for? You seem pretty powerful for me, if you were behind all of this!”</p><p>“Ha, I wish!” In that moment, she sounded just like Agnes, the Nosy Neighbor who had been there for Wanda, any decade. “No, I couldn’t make this place by myself—had to take out a loan to do that. But, you’d know about that, wouldn’t you?”</p><p>“What are you talking about?” Wanda tried to move, to stretch her power—but she couldn’t. Purple magic shimmered around her, hissing as if laughing at her for the attempt.</p><p>Agatha clucked her tongue. “Sorry, sweetheart. See those little things, around the top of the room? Those are runes. Only the witch who cast the runes can use her magic inside that space. And you walked right into my trap. Seems like you’re rather gullible, aren’t you, dear?</p><p>The purple magic surrounded Wanda, the foreign power binding her so that she couldn’t move, so she could barely blink, breathe, and speak.</p><p>“You really don’t remember, do you?” Agatha stepped closer, meeting Wanda’s eyes. “You knew you wouldn’t be able to live with the knowledge afterwards, didn’t you? You knew you were making a deal with the devil, what you were doing was wrong. And you did it anyway.”</p><p>“I don’t understand,” Wanda hissed through gritted teeth.</p><p>“Oh, come on, Wanda.” Agatha was circling her, drawing closer and closer, the look in her eye like the shark from commercial break. That was starting to make sense now to Wanda. “I know little hints have been coming through, here and there. If not for you, then for Vision?”</p><p>Wanda tried to remember—she knew she had to try, for the sake of her children. She’d controlled part of this world, she knew she could make it perfect. There were memories of an empty nothing, before Vision had come. But there was no detail to the absence of life, to the absence of anything other than immense, soul-crushing sorrow that weighed her body down. There were pinpricks of guilt.</p><p>Agatha was right—she had done <em>something</em>.</p><p>“Maybe this will remind you?” Agatha snapped her fingers, and the glowing book floated up to Wanda, flipping open to a page of black ink in a language she did not understand. The letters shifted and rearranged, first going to Norse runes, then Latin, before settling on English in a font reminiscent of medieval texts.</p><p>At the bottom, in dark red ink that had dried an auburn shade, was her own signature.</p><p>“Care to read it out loud?” Agatha paused—Wanda said nothing. “I will, then! You entered a deal with Mephisto, sweetheart. You promised him your power and the your firstborn—all standard stuff, honestly—in exchange for this place, a town that you can control, a life that you can make perfect—because it was made for you.”</p><p>
  <em>No. No. No.</em>
</p><p>Memories came flooding back, of the presence, the entity that had appeared to her in the house, in the pit of loneliness and despair. Of what, in a reckless moment, she had signed away for a chance to be happy.</p><p>“What have I done?” Wanda whispered to herself. She looked to Agatha, anger renewed. “Where are my children?”</p><p>“They’re with Mephisto now, sweetheart— but don’t you worry about that.” Agatha’s eyes were glowing violet again as they flicked over Wanda. “You’ve fulfilled your end of the bargain. I hope it was worth it—now hold still.”</p><p>“Wait—“</p><p>The room re-shifted around her—she outstretched her arms, now free and struggling to keep her balance. As she rose, she was in the living room of her house. But not her house as it was now.</p><p>It was black and white, almost like it was in the fifties. But not quite.</p><p>The TV turned on behind her—it showed her, just a week ago.</p><p>
  <em>“Hello? Vision Residence?”</em>
</p><p>It turned off just as suddenly as it hard turned off.</p><p>When Wanda looked back, Vision was standing in front of her, in perfect monochrome with a cardigan she’d adored.</p><p>“Wanda.” He smiled. “Welcome home.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Check Out Any Time You Like</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>She had to take back the narrative. She could feel Agatha, or Mephisto, or even her own slipping magic trying to pry the horrible realization and the memory of what she had learned. She had to hold on.</p><p>“Vision—you came back.” He had been angry with her, so suspicious of her. He had every right to be. She hesitated, there was a blankness to him, the cold sort of pleasantness one might associate with an A.I.</p><p>Vision had always been so much more than that.</p><p>“I’m sorry, for everything—“</p><p>Vision tilted his head. Wanda froze in her tracks.</p><p>“You have nothing to be sorry for.”</p><p>There was something about his eyes that she didn’t like.</p><p>“Come, my love, we can be happy now.” He offered a hand to her. “Nothing bad ever happened—it was all a dream.”</p><p>It would be so easy. She could let the magic of the Hex take her, could let herself live with this version of Vision. They could grow old together in the suburbs as they’d always wanted, and never have to fight any more cosmic wars.</p><p>Her clothes shifted—she could feel her hair curling, her clothes turning black, white, and gray, from modern day clothes to an ensemble Lucy would’ve been proud of.</p><p>She was about to take a step forward, to slip away, when she remembered her children’s screams. She couldn’t leave her children. Not like this. And she couldn’t let the rest of Westview stay under the spell. Even if it meant that she would never get her happy ending.</p><p>She shook her head, took step back. The color bled back into her. “No. This isn’t right. Any of this.”</p><p>She looked at Vision again. “You aren’t my husband. You’re Mephisto. You have no power over me, not anymore.”</p><p>This Vision panicked. “No, Wanda—“</p><p>Her power returned to her call, it all came rushing like it was coming home. Which, she supposed it was. Her eyes glowed red, her blood was singing in anticipation.</p><p>Red lines cast through her world, cracking and spreading fissures. Before this fake Vision could reach her, the entire world shattered.</p><p>And she was back in Agatha’s basement.</p><p>The witch blinked once—but if she was surprised, he did a good job at hiding it. She set Señor Scratchy down on a pedestal and slow-clapped. “Well done, Wanda.Too bad that little trick won’t work here. I’m afraid you had to pick the hard way, sweetheart.”</p><p>Purple magic glimmered around her fingertips. Wanda tried to move—but she knew it was useless.</p><p>But in the blink of an eye, the magic no longer bound her, and there was her brother, or the impostor pretending to be her brother, tackling Agatha to the ground.</p><p>“Pietro?”</p><p>He looked up to meet her eyes—it was hesitation enough for Agatha to seize her chance.</p><p>Pietro went flying back, slamming into a pillar. He levitated in the air, that odd necklace of his glowing violet along with his hands as they reached around his own neck.</p><p>“Leave him alone! He didn’t do anything to you!” Wanda cried.</p><p>Pietro fell to the ground, coughing and spluttering. Wanda couldn’t move, couldn’t rush to her twin’s side, no matter how hard she tried. She could only watch as he lay there, struggling to breathe again. He looked up at Agatha with rage.</p><p>“You forget that I control you now,” Agatha sneered. “Cross me again, and you won’t be so lucky.”</p><p>“He’s not another one of your boss’s tricks, then?”</p><p>“Oh, him? No, he’s the real deal.” Agatha threw her head back laughing. “He was my special touch. Vision was getting a little too nosy and you were starting to remember a little too much. With all those pesky S.W.O.R.D. Agents trying to get through to you—but never mind them. I pulled him from his timeline, right before he was supposed to die. It was pretty close to this timeline, actually—except for the face. I don’t know what’s up with that.”</p><p>There was a pang in Wanda’s heart. Her Pietro, the one she had grown up with, was gone. This one might technically be the same—but there was a difference that both of them would always know.</p><p>“But fine, neither of you are worth the effort, anymore.” Agatha rolled her eyes. “Any last words?”</p><p>
  <em>I’m sorry, Vision, Billy, Tommy—Monica.</em>
</p><p>She glanced at her alternate twin beside her.</p><p>
  <em>I’m sorry Pietro. You didn’t deserve this.</em>
</p><p>“This is bullshit,” Pietro spat into the ground.</p><p>“And you, Wanda?” Agatha’s voice dripped with a false affability. Purple magic swirled around her fingertips, gathering like a rolling thundercloud.</p><p>Before she could act, however, at least ten moderately-sized kitchen knives surrounded by a green glow appeared, right around Agatha’s head, more soaring to join it with other metal sharp objects from around the house.</p><p>“Don’t move.”</p><p>In strode a young woman who seemed familiar to Wanda, with green hair and a punk outfit Wanda immediately admired. There was something catlike and witchy about her, the way she carried herself. She stepped into the circle—but the green energy remained, and the knives and other sharp objects still all surrounded Agatha.</p><p>“How are you doing that?” Wanda asked. “I thought only the witch who cast the runes—“</p><p>“I’m not a witch.” The stranger smirked and approached Pietro. She knelt down and ripped the necklace from his neck. “That should be better, little bro.”</p><p>“What?” Wanda was sure she was having an aneurysm or something. Her life could not be getting this weird. “We don’t have a sister—“</p><p>“Hate to break it to you, but you do. Name’s Lorna.” She made a pulling gesture and one of the doors in Agatha’s basement opened to reveal the twins, who rushed out.</p><p>“Mom!”</p><p>“Billy, Tommy!”</p><p>Wanda was about to rush to them, before Agatha’s magic stopped her.</p><p>“Right, forgot about that.” Lorna turned on her heels back to Agatha. “You are going to let my little brother and little sister and her brats go.”</p><p>“Who are you to be threatening me?”</p><p>“The one with the knives.”</p><p>Agatha blanched. Wanda supposed that her sister’s logic was, reluctantly, one the other magical girl in town would have to conform to.</p><p>Wanda finally came free. She ran to her boys. “Billy! Tommy! I’m so sorry, we’re going to get out of here,come on.”</p><p>“You’re going to regret this, dear,” Agatha called as Wanda and her family started to slowly back out of her basement. “Mephisto will come back to collect on his bargains!”</p><p>“Tell him Magneto is counting on it,” Lorna replied.</p><p>She then shut the doors on Agatha completely.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. You Can Never Leave</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I don’t understand, how are you our sister?” Wanda asked, glancing at Pietro.</p><p>He shrugged, looking as confused as Wanda felt.</p><p>“We share the same dad—we’re half-siblings, if you want to be technical about it,” Lorna said in a tone that suggested that she did not. “Dad’s been looking for you guys for a long time. He’ll be happy that you’re back, Pietro.”</p><p>“Hang on a sec, we saw Dad die.” Pietro gestured between him and Wanda.</p><p>“You saw your adopted dad die.” Lorna glanced at Billy and Tommy, who were following every word with confusion and amazement. “That sucks, by the way. Dad stuck you with them, thought it would be safer than being with him.”</p><p>“He was wrong.” Even Wanda was surprised by how bitter her voice was. “He could’ve not left us in a war zone. I can’t imagine anything he was up to was more dangerous than that.”</p><p>“You’d be surprised.” Lorna looked around. “I think that’s your friend Monica, over there.”</p><p>“Monica!” Wanda cried, seeing her friend exit from her house, looking confused.</p><p>“Wanda—Pietro—-“ Monica faltered, stopping on Lorna. “Who are you?”</p><p>“Apparently I have a big sister.” Wanda returned her attention to Monica. Remorse washed through her. “I’m sorry—you were right. I wasn’t in my right mind—but I should have listened to you. We need to find Vision and get of here.”</p><p>“Why?” Monica looked around. “What’s about to happen?”</p><p>“Nothing, if we get out of here—Mephisto doesn’t want anything to do with these people, thank God,” Lorna muttered.</p><p>“Mephisto—what?”</p><p>“We’ll explain it all as soon as we get out,” Wanda said.</p><p>“Fine.” Monica bit her lip. “But you owe me big time, Wanda.”</p><p>Wanda regarded her friend for a moment. She’d done so much wrong by her, by everyone it seemed. “You’re right, I do.”</p><p>“I don’t know where to look for Darcy—“</p><p>“Wait, look!”</p><p>Tommy pointed as a clown car pulled in, screeching to a halt. Vision and Darcy spilled out, running to them.</p><p>Monica and Darcy embraced, as did Vision, Wanda, and their children.</p><p>“We’re gonna need that,” Lorna said. “Mind if I take the keys?”</p><p>“Have ‘em,” Darcy declared. She then glanced and her. “Why? What’s going on?”</p><p>“It’s complicated, but I think Wanda made a deal with a devil to make this place, and she just broke her deal,” Pietro said. “We need to get out of here to avoid that devil’s wrath.”</p><p>Wanda internally groaned. This was not one of her better moments.</p><p>“Where will we go?” Vision asked.</p><p>Wanda had not put that much thought ahead.</p><p>“Dad wants to see you,” Lorna said. “Both of you.”</p><p>Wanda frowned. A part of her was curious to meet her father and her sister, to learn more about the man who had left his children to grow up in an orphanage in war-torn Sokovia.</p><p>But she then thought of the runes. She had magic, when Pietro and Lorna did not. She had the same power as Dr. Strange, one of the men she had fought alongside in the Infinity War.</p><p>“I can’t,” Wanda whispered. She looked to Vision—her path was now clear. “I need to learn how to control my magic, so I can fight Mephisto, so I can make sure this never happens again. I need you to take the boys, take them to my father. I’ll come when it’s safe for me to be near them then.”</p><p>Vision reached to touch her face. The look in his eyes told Wanda that he understood. Neither of them wanted to part—but it was a matter of what was best for their family, the family Wanda had almost paid everything to have.</p><p>“Until we meet again, darling.”</p><p>He smiled and ushered the twins into the back of the clown car. Darcy jumped in the back after him, Monica also following.</p><p>That left Wanda with her siblings. She immediately hugged Pietro. She would take advantage of this second change to be with her brother gain—no matter what form he took.</p><p>She then looked to Lorna. “Tell our father that I’m coming soon.”</p><p>“I will.” Lorna nodded. “He’d be proud of you, you know.”</p><p>Wanda could only hope that was a compliment. She nodded, and she drew her power from the town—for Mephisto had only used her power, she realized, to create the Hex in the first place. It could come tumbling down now, leaving the people of Westview in safe hands. And out of Mephisto’s.</p><p>With that, she soared into the air, a new goal in mind.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>It was a dark night in New York when Dr. Strange opened the door of the New York Sanctum to see none other than Wanda Maximoff standing on his doorstep. Before he could speak, she barreled into an explanation.</p><p>“You might not remember me, but my name is Wanda Maximoff, we fought together against Thanos,” she said. “I have this power—and I need to learn how to use it.”</p><p>Dr. Strange frowned. He could feel the magic flowing around her. Chaos magic, in its strongest form. He knew this woman, foretold by the ancient texts. The Scarlet Witch, the witch with no coven, no incantation.</p><p>Pure, raw magic. Magic that could be dangerous in the wrong hands.</p><p>“Come in,” he said.</p>
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